Our society is one that often pushes quick fixes, seeks short cuts, and reality feels like an on-screen illusion. Each day, we are being served conflicting information, negativity, opinions, media-bias, tragedy, and pain. There are so many things pulling us in many different directions, which is why it may feel difficult to consider seeking gratitude in grief.
GRATITUDE IN GRIEF
At Gratitude Gifted, we are immersed in the emotion of gratitude every single day. It is our hope that with every word we share, you are encouraged in your personal gratitude practice and that we continue to shed light on the power of gratitude. We share stories of gratitude, encourage you to show gratitude to others, and want you to chase the emotion of gratitude every single day. That said, we would be remiss to not acknowledge that gratitude is not a cure all. Grief is everywhere.
This has been such a challenging year and that is putting it so lightly. There has been great sorrow and loss, ignorance, political division, racial division, death, and financial peril. These are all devastating things that we are facing together, and grief is on the rise in everyone’s lives.
You do not have to be grateful for your grief. Our grief is not a blessing, and we do not have to be grateful for it.
Instead, we can find gratitude in what comes after the grief.
In death and loss, we can be grateful for having known someone and the impact they had on our lives. We can be grateful for the happy memories we shared. We can be grateful that out of the 7.5 billion people on this planet today, we got to know them.
In our sorrow, we can be grateful for our strength to make it through another day.
Gratitude can appear through our grief, but it will take time.
Grief is inevitable, but another day is not promised, and we cannot let our grief win and take us down. Gratitude is truly a tool, and in the face of grief, you can use this tool to give meaning to your grief. You can use gratitude to navigate through the aftermath, even if gratitude does not shed light on the why. Gratitude cannot solve why someone was taken from us or why we had to face a battle, but it can help us focus on finding a small bit of joy.
Always remember that everyone is facing a battle. Everyone you meet, everyone you know, and everyone you have ever known is impacted by grief. Now, more than ever, people need to be shown kindness, love, and gratitude. You may not even be aware of the darkness and grief someone is facing, but you can be a light to them. Show someone light with a small act of gratitude or kindness. It can be a simple thank you and a smile or it can be a grand gesture, but no act is too small. No act of gratitude or kindness is ever wasted.
